This new poster says a lot. This is the "final world class ideal org for America"?? Wow. Scientology of course has no problem making outrageous statements and blustering on through as though everyone will simply agree because they say so. But I wonder how Boston feels about being relegated to the "non-world class" category? Or Philly? Austin? Detroit? There is apparently NEVER going to be any org in Houston, New Orleans or Charlotte, let alone an ideal one. But even more interesting than their stupidity is how much this reveals about the state of scientology in the age of the … [Read more...]
Lies, Lies and More Lies
I had not seen this until perusing the scientology.org website today. Don't focus on the wonderful passage of classic Shermanspeak -- legendary times on the front porch of infinity indeed. No, try to put that out of your mind and note the claim -- apparently in response to the repeated exposure of the dwindling numbers at his events -- that the event was attended by a "record number" pegged at 6700 lost souls from 70 nations. Of course, this is quite a feat, given the capacity of the venue is Ruth Eckerd Hall that seats 2180 (slightly less with all the cameras and sound equipment … [Read more...]
Thursday Funnies
Though Orlando apparently didn't make their target for opening last week (what a shock?) they are making up for it with an outpouring of promotional pieces that is impressive in it's volume, if not the content. It's a constant flow of travelers... So...? Well, for one thing, they will NEVER find you. If the travelers are so important (like they are going to go on course instead of DisneyWorld?) why aren't you located anywhere they could possibly see you? I'm giving him a cleared planet But he doesnt care, he's handling "Target 2". Plus, you're not giving … [Read more...]
Just When It Could Not Get Weirder…
This is a glimpse behind the smoke and mirrors of ideal org openings from inside the bubble. When Miscavige yanks his ribbon at the Gala Grand Opening of a new building, he expects to see enough staff present to occupy his new palace. But the vast majority of these massively oversized new buildings are in cities where the scientology organization is a small, failing operation with a few staff. Or in the recent case of Dublin, with no staff at all. Can you imagine the CEO of WalMart opening a new Supercenter to replace a lemonade stand and nobody is inside to man the checkouts or stock … [Read more...]
Orlando Ribbon Yanking
The big announcement has come. On Saturday, the Orlando morgue is set to open its doors. Of course, this had to be done in time for Maiden Voyage so there is something to show there. It's pretty much the ONLY thing there is to talk about with regard to scientology, so they orchestrate the funding, work and timing of the yanking event around Chairman of the Bored's schedule and the need for video for his "international events." Wonder how many "ringer" staff members they will have on hand for the "grand opening"? And as is the norm they don’t announce the presence of Dear Leader b … [Read more...]
No New Orgs Part 2
Some more promotion about the massive expansion of scientology that clearly states "we are not expanding at all." (see first in this series from a few days ago) This is the only org for "6 surrounding states" -- meaning there are NO ORGS IN THE 6 SURROUNDING STATES. This is their statement... I assume these 6 states are: Kansas (there is another org in Missouri in St. Louis), Arkansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa and Kentucky? Idaho, Montana and Wyoming have no scientology either -- but they are closer to Portland, Salt Lake City and Denver. Then again St Paul is closer … [Read more...]
No New Orgs
I have often noted that scientology's claim about "new churches" is a semantic sleaze to try to fool the bubble-dwellers and outside world alike that they are actually expanding. They are not. What they have done is moved existing orgs into new buildings and called them "new churches." And those new buildings are EMPTY. They have not opened any new organizations in a decade other than one in Dublin for no good reason, though they have shuttered quite a number by "combining" them into one. Here is a classic example that highlights the foolishness of this "ideal org s … [Read more...]
The Truth About the CSN
Though scientology is making efforts to persuade people inside the bubble what an amazing success the CSN is with anecdotal stories of amazingness, the truth is less encouraging. It's impossible to get real numbers of viewership for DirecTV, but there are other measures of success that ARE available. Here are some figures from Google Trends. I have marked on the graph the Super Bowl ad and the CSN launch (and their massive media buys promoting the CSN -- TV, radio and internet). As you can see, after the initial launch, things have sunk back into their normal … [Read more...]
The Boasts of Scientology
I happened to pick up a copy of the new edition of Freedom magazine in downtown Clearwater (there are a number of stores that have an over-abundance of scientology promotional items on display -- not sure if they are hoping to curry favor with the few scientologists that might stop in or if they are intimidated into thinking they will be put on a "blacklist" if they don't accept them). This "special edition" is not the usual "Posse of Lunatics" or Anderson Cooper is a poopy-head or Lawrence Wright’s mother wears army boots. This one crows about the accomplishments of scientology and e … [Read more...]
More Ribbon Yankings
Yanking those ribbons has become a staple of scientology internal propaganda. Of course, though this is their proudest moment demonstrating their massive international expansion, no outsiders are ever allowed to attend and there is massive security presence to ensure they cannot. These are often timed to coincide with events -- either a few weeks before in order to include in the upcoming event, or shortly afterwards for the convenience of the Chairman of the Bored (as in Amsterdam, Birmingham and Ireland most recently). Now, with the March 13th standing-ovation-athon done and dusted (one … [Read more...]